Shooting simulation helps district prepare for real thing WITH VIDEO

He came into Oxford High School on Friday morning with a chip on his shoulder and in moments, a principal, teacher and several students were shot -- not for real, of course.

The armed intruder was actually an Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy, and the entire exercise was meant to better prepare the district, its students and staff for the real thing.

"You're never going to know what it's truly like until you actually go through it, but from going through a situation like this, it gets pretty darn close," said Zach Throne, a junior at Oxford High School.

Throne, a member of the drama club, was among several students who pretended to be shot and injured during the scenario.

With a blood packet exploding at his hip after the pretend shooter, Deputy Eric Schimmel, fired a fake shot at him, Throne dropped to the floor of the school's hallway and yelled desperately for help.

He crawled toward classrooms as an announcement came over the school's PA system ordering an immediate lockdown. Throne was never able to get help from the students and staff inside the classrooms, but that's exactly what was supposed to happen.

"You want to minimize the injuries and tragedies that could occur. By opening the door, now you've broken that integrity," said Stephanie Daly of EduTech Solutions, the Oakland County-based group that facilitated the simulation.

One teacher commented afterward that she wanted to open the door to her classroom to help Throne, but knew she had to protect the students in her room by keeping the class locked.

As part of the exercise, one teacher obliged and opened the door unknowingly for the shooter himself. As soon as Schimmel entered the classroom, he ordered everyone to get down and more shots were fired.

The simulation ended with a sniper, positioned outside the building, taking out the shooter.

Schimmel said a "glorified cap gun" that shot blanks was used to simulate the gun shots. As a deputy and member of the Special Response Team in real life, Schimmel said he was a little uncomfortable playing the role of the shooter.

"I don't really like being the bad guy," Schimmel said. "We hope, with all of our training, that we did what we think somebody in that situation would do."

The simulation was paid for with funds from a $250,000 "Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools" grant issued by the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Drug Free Schools to the Oxford, Clarkston and Lake Orion school districts. The grant will also fund other measures at the three districts.

Though there was no school for Oxford High School on Friday, many staff, student and community volunteers either took part in the exercise or attended as an observer. Representatives from the Clarkston and Lake Orion districts were also present.

Members of the Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security and SWAT team, the Village of Oxford Police Department, Oxford's fire department and emergency responders and other law enforcement officials took part in the simulation.

"One of the things that we get out of this is the ability to work with the other agencies that we're going to have to work with in a situation like this," said Randy Huston of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. "It's going to require a mutual aid from everybody, and that's working together, to have something like this with a successful resolution."

During a debriefing meeting after the simulation, there was a lot of talk about communicating with those outside the district.

A student who was inside the classroom with the shooter remarked that ringing and vibrating cell phones put everyone on edge.

"You're sitting there and you're like, 'Oh my God, if my phone goes off, I'm going to get shot,'" said the student. "So I think one thing you want to do is, when you let the notice go out that there is a shooter, tell parents, 'Don't contact your student, let your student contact you.' "

Daly said a follow-up report will be formed. Assistant Principal Todd Dunckley said the school's emergency policies will be reviewed and revised based on what was learned during the simulation.

"Obviously, this isn't something we want to happen, but it's something we have to practice for," Huston said.

Contact staff writer Karen Workman at (248) 745-4643 or karen@oakpress.com. You can also find her on Facebook and @KarenWorkman on Twitter.